CIUDAD HIDALGO, Mexico _ Central American migrants from a U.S.-bound caravan amassed anew Saturday on a bridge along Mexico's southern border, while others crossed illegally into Mexico and some returned home.
Hundreds of migrants, mostly from impoverished and violence-plagued Honduras, had camped out overnight on the bridge over the Suchiate River _ which defines the border between Guatemala and southern Mexico _ still seeking to enter Mexico and continue overland north to the United States.
The scene, while chaotic, was relatively calm compared to the violent melee that erupted Friday, when a larger group of migrants stormed through Guatemalan frontier barricades and tried to force their way into Mexico.
Hundreds of Mexican police thwarted that effort to breach the Mexican border _ an action praised by President Donald Trump, who has labeled the migrants a threat to U.S. security and said he would call out the U.S. military should the migrants make it to the U.S.-Mexico border area.
"We are hungry; we are thirsty," said Suami Castillo, 34, as she waited Saturday with her toddler son on the bridge, which reeked of urine and rotting trash in the subtropical swelter. "We are waiting peacefully. ... We ask the president of Mexico to open the border for us."
But hopes seemed to be fading for many that they would be allowed to cross into Mexico, and many were considering crossing illegally.
About 1,000 immigrants who crossed the river illegally by boat celebrated in a plaza in the Mexican border town of Ciudad Hidalgo Saturday afternoon, chanting shouts of "Yes, we did it!" and dancing to the music of a live marimba band.
Mexican immigration agents occasionally circled the plaza in vans but did not move to detain the immigrants.
As the day went on, many more Hondurans began to leave the bridge and sought to enter Mexico on rafts from the Guatemala side.
Even those Hondurans who managed to cross illegally face substantial odds before making it to the far-off U.S. border. Mexican immigration checkpoints line the roads leading from the Guatemalan border and Mexican authorities have aggressively sought out, arrested and deported tens of thousands of undocumented Central Americans in recent years.
Members of the caravan hoped that by traveling together in a large group, they would be less vulnerable to immigration authorities.
Earlier, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said his country would not allow the migrants to enter en masse, and that only those with visas or valid refugee claims would be allowed to enter. Their cases will be reviewed one by one, Mexican officials say, a process that could drag on for weeks.
"Like any sovereign nation ... Mexico will not permit irregular entry into its territory _ and much less in a violent manner," Pena Nieto said Friday in a stern national address. "Mexico remains ready to help migrants who decide to enter our country respecting our laws."
On Saturday, Mexican immigration authorities said they had received 640 applications from Hondurans seeking refugee status in Mexico. Among them were 164 women, some of them pregnant, and 104 children, some as young as 3 months. Officials gave no indication of the status of the requests. But applicants for refugee status in Mexico are generally granted temporary residence until their applications are processed, which can take weeks.
The caravan has posed a significant dilemma for Mexican authorities, pitting the country's relations with the U.S. against its asserted respect for human rights and compassion for migrants. Mexican authorities routinely assail what they call the Trump administration's xenophobic rhetoric about Mexican immigrants in the United States and its insistence that Mexico pay for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to keep them out.
But Mexico and Central American nations have come under intense pressure to stop the caravan from Trump, who has repeatedly highlighted the 3,000-strong caravan at campaign rallies before the next month's U.S. midterm elections.
"They're not coming into this country: They may as well turn back," Trump said Friday in Arizona. "As of this moment, I thank Mexico. If that doesn't work out, we're calling up the military, not the National Guard."
The presidents of Honduras and Guatemala _ both heavily dependent on U.S. support _ met Saturday in the Guatemalan capital and were working on a plan to transport Honduran migrants not allowed into Mexico back to their homeland.
At least 10 buses filled with Honduran migrants had already left the Guatemalan border town of Tecun Uman, ferrying discouraged migrants back home.
"They're not going to let us pass," said Julissa Hernandez, 16, who was aboard the tenth busload to head back toward Honduras from Guatemala. "It has been so hard."
Like others, she said she had left Honduras in search of work in the United States. But she concluded that it wasn't worth risking her life and decided to go back.
Others, however, remained intent on continuing their journey, despite what they perceived as Mexico's hard line, because of the lack of opportunity and rampant crime in Honduras.
"You can't study, you can't leave your house without fear that they will kill you," said Johana Flores, 16, who was resting in a park on the Guatemalan side. "I am afraid. If I go home, I will die of hunger or be killed by the gangs."
The Trump administration has characterized most U.S.-bound Central Americans as economic migrants who have no legal standing to enter the United States. Washington has generally rejected fear of criminal violence as a basis for political asylum, and has repeatedly linked Central American migrants to violent gangs such as MS-13.
On the border bridge, where hundreds lined up behind a tall, white steel gate that marked the Mexican side, the situation remained tense.
Red-eyed mothers and fathers cradled crying infants. Children drenched in sweat toted luggage.
"Look at these kids without diapers, without food," said Eva Fernandez, a U.S. citizen and California resident who heads an immigrant advocacy group, as she livestreamed the scene to friends in Honduras. "We are suffering."
Mexican immigration officials handed out cups of water through the border fence.
"Mexico does not have its doors closed," said Luis Manuel Lopez, Mexico's ambassador to Guatemala.
The migrants would be processed in an orderly fashion, he said, with women and children having priority.
But other migrants chose to cross into Mexico illegally, paying the equivalent of $1 or $2 to ferrymen who routinely transport people and merchandise across the river on rafts crafted of tire inner tubes and wooden planks. They gathered in groups on the Mexican side, hoping to advance farther into Mexico at some point.
"Mostly, we left because there's no work" in Honduras, said Luis Pena, 43, who was among those crossing into Mexico on the river rafts and said he was bound for Los Angeles.
